


planetarium

by vanus



Category: VIXX
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Lots of Firsts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 13:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13319589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanus/pseuds/vanus
Summary: Taekwoon tries not to let ‘I’m a raging bisexual’ be the next words out of his mouth.





	planetarium

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kasafusutan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasafusutan/gifts).



> would you look at that, another unbeta'd, self-indulgent mess

Taekwoon digs his toes into the sand and watches as the sun dips down below the horizon. It’s too cold for him to be sitting out here, what with October drawing to a close, but he still thinks the sunset is best viewed sitting in this specific spot on the beach. The sky blooms out into peachy pinks and vibrant oranges as Taekwoon observes, and he can’t help but think of how so very small he is, laid out here underneath the waning day. It’s a thought he has almost every evening spent like this.

The show’s over for the evening, the sun finally set and the sky devoid of all its former color, so he gets up and dusts himself off before heading back home. 

The lighthouse still looms tall over the beach, but the light at the top has long since gone dark. The bulb burnt out years before Taekwoon had even considered buying the place, and even though he originally looked into replacing it, he couldn’t justify dropping that much money on something he’d be doing exclusively for sentimental purposes. Instead, Taekwoon had the light and its mechanisms removed and floored over, choosing to turn the lantern room into a very tall reading room and observation deck. He’d even replaced the roof with a domed glass ceiling so he could see the stars at night. He lives in a small home sitting directly in front of the lighthouse, a cute little blue thing with white shutters and a white picket fence; he’s heard it described as ‘picturesque’ more times than he can count on all his fingers and toes.

Halfway through removing his shoes, Taekwoon gets the very sudden desire to go out. Not for long, he thinks, but long enough to grab a beer and chat with some of his friends at the bar. Socialize for a little bit. He’s been reading at night for the entire week, so he could use the time outside.

And thus, he finds himself wrapped up in a sweater and strolling leisurely towards town, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

  
  
  
  
  


The guys at the bar greet him warmly, patting him on the back as he sits down at one of the stools and orders his usual from Hongbin. The other three are in the middle of some conversation about the finer points of poker, which Taekwoon really doesn’t care to offer his opinion on. He smiles up at the bartender, paying for his drink and asking, “So what have I missed in the five whole days I haven’t been here?”

“Nothing much,” Hongbin replies. He slides Taekwoon’s drink to him and leans up against the bar. He’s grinning like he’s got something juicy up his sleeve. “Wonsik got a puppy and has zero idea what to do with it or how to train it. It’s a cute little thing, though; he brought it in yesterday and I could feel my heart of steel melting.”

How cute. “I’ve always pictured Wonsik with a puppy, so I can’t say I’m surprised.” Taekwoon, however, is eager to get to the main event. “Now, I can tell you have something good for me, so spill it.”

Before Hongbin has the chance to open his mouth again, Sanghyuk is answering for him. “There’s a new guy that came in the other day! Taekwoon, you’re still single, right? Oh my gosh, he would be _perfect_ for you, and Wonsik agrees--”

“Wait, wait, wait, slow down for a second here.” Taekwoon’s just gotten here, and he already feels a headache coming on. “Is he new in town, or just new to the bar?”

“New in town,” Sanghyuk supplies helpfully.

“And you’re going to try to set me up with him, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon groans, “how many times do I have to tell you to not set me up with every vaguely queer person that walks through the front door?”

Sanghyuk puffs up his chest like he’s going to defend his choices in dudes for his friends, but Hakyeon is there before he can say anything else. “Sanghyuk, he’s right. Let him decide for himself.” Hakyeon grins mischievously. “However, I’m certainly not going to stop Jaehwan from introducing himself to Taekwoon when he comes in on schedule in--” Hakyeon checks his watch for dramatic effect, “--three minutes.”

And sure enough, at exactly eight o’clock, in walks one of the most handsome men Taekwoon has ever laid eyes on. Shit. And sure enough, he walks right over to the group of them and makes eye contact with Taekwoon, like he’s on a mission from the heavens to say hello. Double shit.

“You must be Taekwoon,” the new face says to him. “I’m Jaehwan. It’s nice to finally meet you.” His voice is sinuous and bright, and his tongue wraps around and drags out each word like he’s giving them all careful thought before speaking. 

Taekwoon tries not to let ‘I’m a raging bisexual’ be the next words out of his mouth. Really, it’s a miracle he can get  _any_ words out of his mouth at all with how dry it’s gotten. “I-it’s nice to meet you too, Jaehwan.” _Oh god, my voice is shaking. Gotta make a recovery._ “Did you just move here?” _Good work, Taekwoon. A nice, normal question. Well executed._

“Yeah, I just moved here about two weeks ago, I think? The days all blur together.” Jaehwan’s laughs softly, shyly, and oh, if Taekwoon doesn’t feel like he’s melting into his barstool. “My job transferred me to an office about twenty minutes from here, and this seemed like the prettiest place in the region to live, so here I am.”

He hears Hakyeon say something along the lines of how beautiful the town is, but Taekwoon is too busy staring at the side of Jaehwan’s face with laser-like focus to entirely make out the sentence. Jaehwan has a beautiful profile, the shape of his nose especially lovely. To Sanghyuk’s credit, he was right; Taekwoon’s known the guy for all of thirty seconds and Jaehwan has already taken his breath away.

_Conversation, idiot, make conversation_ , Taekwoon’s subconscious scolds him, so he takes a sip of his beer before asking, “How do you like it here so far?”

“I like it a lot! I live right by the beach, y’know, over by that old lighthouse, so--”

Sanghyuk gasps like he’s just woken up on Christmas morning. “Oh my god,” he exclaims, “Taekwoon lives in that old lighthouse! He restored the whole thing by himself.”

Very largely against his will, Taekwoon blushes a soft shade of pink. “Well, I don’t live  _in_ the lighthouse, just in front of it--”

“Logistics, Taekwoon, not important.” Sanghyuk brushes the comment off with a wave of his hand. “I can’t believe you guys are neighbors!”

Jaehwan looks just about as thrilled as Sanghyuk does. “Oh,” he says, a soft smile on his face, “that’s great! I don’t know anyone on our street yet, so…” The end of Jaehwan’s sentence trails off into nothing, and he just sinks into the barstool next to Taekwoon with his cheeks flushed in mild embarrassment.

If the other four think they’re being subtle when they migrate just slightly away from the two of them, they’re mistaken. Jaehwan, however, hasn’t seemed to notice anything off, seemingly content to just talk to Taekwoon for the rest of the evening. And Taekwoon’s not complaining either -- Jaehwan’s a wonderful conversationalist, and it only adds to his already very strong charm. Taekwoon is, for lack of a better word, smitten. 

In what seems like no time at all, Hongbin starts closing up the bar for the evening, and all the others start getting up and getting ready to leave. They wait for the bartender like always, and once he’s finished, the six of them head outside together and mingle out front for a moment before Hakyeon claps his hands together and calls it an evening.

“You’ll text me when you get home?” Hakyeon asks, giving Taekwoon’s hand a light squeeze.

“You got it.” 

“And you’ll make sure Jaehwan gets home safe too?”

Taekwoon smiles. “Of course I will.”

After they all say their goodbyes, they head off in separate directions, Taekwoon and Jaehwan heading down towards the beachfront road with a very safe amount of space between them. Safe for Taekwoon’s sanity. There’s a beat of awkward silence between them, but Jaehwan is quick to fill it with quiet chatter. He asks Taekwoon about his work and his hobbies, taking special interest in his library of books.

“Really,” Taekwoon says, “I never set out to collect books in the first place. I just really like to read, and my collection got out of hand on its own.”

“Where do you keep them all?”

“Up in the lighthouse, actually.”

Jaehwan’s eyes positively light up. “You’ll show me, won’t you? Please?” Taekwoon thinks the other might actually be trembling with excitement. “I’ve been wondering what’s up there since the day I first saw it.”

Taekwoon’s never been one to resist showing off all the hard work he put into the lighthouse itself, and he’s even more inclined to show it off considering Jaehwan is the one asking to see it. “Of course!” He playfully bumps his shoulder into Jaehwan’s, his fingertips tingling when the back of their hands brush together. “There’s one rule in the lighthouse, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t fall over the railing.” Taekwoon gives Jaehwan’s arm a teasing pinch, and Jaehwan laughs unceremoniously loud and covers his mouth with the back of hand, his eyes scrunching up. Taekwoon wants to make him laugh like that again and again. 

Walking backwards up the staircase with both of Jaehwan’s hands in his own, Taekwoon leads the other up into the lantern room, and the look of sheer awe on Jaehwan’s face is just about the most beautiful thing Taekwoon has ever seen. Jaehwan takes a minute to survey the whole space, pacing delicately into the center of the room before looking up above him, and he audibly gasps when he sees the view through the ceiling. There are no clouds in sight tonight, the dark canvas of the night sky dotted with millions of bright stars, the moon hanging full.

Taekwoon brushes his hand against Jaehwan’s forearm, pointing him towards the door on the other side of the room. “There’s an even better view out on the deck.” He circles his fingers around Jaehwan’s wrist and tugs the other outside with him, taking a deep breath of fresh air and sighing happily. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“It’s breathtaking,” Jaehwan whispers, like he’s afraid speaking too loudly will take the magic away. He looks out over the ocean, then looks back to the stars and smiles. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be able to come here whenever you want. To have this.”

“I can show you where the spare key is, if you want. Then you could come here whenever you’d like.” All of Taekwoon’s friends know how to get into the lighthouse, but none of them have ever come over to use it; they just come over for Taekwoon. Jaehwan, Taekwoon thinks, is different. He seems like someone who would enjoy having the quiet of Taekwoon’s reading room easily accessible. 

“You mean it?”

“Yeah. Key’s hanging under my front porch. The bright green one.”

With just a small hint of pink on his cheeks, Jaehwan’s smile grows ever wider. “Thank you, Taekwoon.” 

For the shortest, shortest of moments, Taekwoon thinks Jaehwan will kiss him. Jaehwan looks like he wants to, but then thinks better of it. Maybe it’s better that way. _Can’t have things moving too fast,_  he thinks to himself. _Well, if there’s even anything to begin with. I don’t even know if he likes me. I’m probably just making a fool of myself._

“Would you let me walk you home?”

Jaehwan stills for a moment before gently lacing his fingers with Taekwoon’s. “Does that mean I have to go?”

“You can come back tomorrow if you’d like. I don’t have to work, so I’ll be here all day if you want to come over.”

“I’d like that."

Jaehwan doesn’t let go of Taekwoon’s hand during the whole walk to his home, a cute little cottage just down the street with an untidy flowerbed out front.

“I haven’t gotten the chance to do much to it yet, unfortunately,” Jaehwan says. “I have a grandiose vision for it, but that’s a ways off yet.”

Taekwoon hums in acknowledgement before giving Jaehwan’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I should get going, but I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Mhmm, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Tension hangs heavy between them, the air thick with it. Taekwoon wants to kiss Jaehwan, thinks he’ll die if he doesn’t, but he somehow manages to resist, only giving Jaehwan a lame little ‘good night’ before turning to head back home.

  
  
  
  
  


Taekwoon isn’t expecting his doorbell to ring at exactly ten a.m., so when it does, he doesn’t think much of answering the door in his bathrobe with his hair a mess. But, just his luck, it’s Jaehwan’s on the other side, looking annoyingly tidy and ready for the day. “Hey, Taekwoon. I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No,” Taekwoon says, gesturing back towards his kitchen, “just making breakfast. Are you hungry, or do you want coffee or something?”

“Coffee would be amazing.”

Taekwoon serves Jaehwan his coffee in a plain white mug, and  he pours himself another cup into his own more embarrassing mug (his ceramic cup is emblazoned with “KISS ME, I’M CAFFEINATED” in large gold lettering).  “You sure you’re not hungry for anything?”

Jaehwan shakes his head. “Really, I’m good. I ate before I came over here. I wasn’t expecting to be waited on so attentively.” Taekwoon splutters just a bit when Jaehwan winks at him.

His breakfast doesn’t take long to finish, and once he’s cleared his plate, Taekwoon excuses himself to go change out of his pajamas. Even though he tries not to agonize over what he should wear, he really can’t help himself. Plus his hair just won’t stay put. _C’mon, Taekwoon, pull yourself together. He obviously likes you at least a little bit, so what you wear won’t matter. It’ll be fine._ Taekwoon settles on just a tshirt and jeans, stuffing his unruly hair under a beanie. And with a quick brush of his teeth, he’s done.

Jaehwan’s leafing through a magazine when he comes back out to the living room, and he greets Taekwoon with a wide smile when he looks up at the other. “You look very cute in that hat.”

Taekwoon mutters a soft, flustered ‘thank you’ before stuffing his feet into a pair of slippers and grabbing his keys from the table next to the front door. “You coming?”

  
  
  
  
  


Taekwoon putters about the room as Jaehwan scans through his bookshelves to find something to read. Anything he can do to keep his mind off of Jaehwan being _in his space_ , he does it. Waters his plants, tidies up his small desk, flops down in his favorite chair and picks up where he left off in _Jane Eyre_. And yet, his eyes still wander back over to Jaehwan’s lovely back, arm stretched over his head reaching for a book on the top shelf. Jaehwan reads the back cover, and with a soft sigh, returns it to the shelf.

Noticing the other’s struggle to find a book, Taekwoon suggests, “If you don’t see anything you’d like to read, I can always read to you?” It’s a stupid suggestion, reading to a grown ass man, but Taekwoon’s taken by surprise when Jaehwan agrees.

“If you could read me whatever you’re reading, that would be good.”

“I hope you’re ready for some classic English literature, I guess.”

Jaehwan doesn’t seem very enthused by Taekwoon’s selection, but he agrees anyway. _I wonder what kind of books he likes to read,_ Taekwoon wonders.

As it turns out, focusing on reading with Jaehwan in the room is much easier than Taekwoon anticipated. He’s read this book so many times that the words roll off his tongue with no trouble, and even looking up at Jaehwan and seeing the other looking at him too can’t throw him off. He slips into a trance, almost, enthralled all over again by Jane and all her charms. 

However, after about an hour, Jaehwan looks like he’s about to fall asleep. “Jaehwan,” Taekwoon mutters, and the other man starts and sits straight up.   


“I’m sorry, I wasn’t sleeping, I promise I’m not bored--” Jaehwan stumbles over his words, his cheeks heating up as he says, “It’s just that you just have the most relaxing reading voice, it’s very pretty--”

“You know, you’re not the first person to tell me that,” Taekwoon smiles and shuts his book, setting it off to the side. “Do you want to go for a walk? Maybe that will wake you up a little,” Taekwoon teases, and he stands and smoothes out his jeans before offering a hand to Jaehwan. When Jaehwan takes it, Taekwoon hopes the other doesn’t notice how sweaty his palms have once again become.

Taekwoon knows every millimeter of his beach, so he leads a barefoot Jaehwan down the best route along the shore, pointing out all the coolest natural landmarks as well as telling Jaehwan all sorts of embarrassing stories about his childhood. Jaehwan laced their fingers together a while back, and now their hands swing gently between them as they walk. 

“Have you always lived here, Taekwoon?”

Taekwoon runs his thumb absentmindedly across the back of Jaehwan’s hand. “Almost always. I went away for university after I graduated from high school, but I ended up just coming back anyway after I finished. I missed it here.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s really beautiful here,” Jaehwan says, hopping over a rocky patch of sand then helping Taekwoon do the same. “You know, though, I have to ask-- what made you want to buy the lighthouse?”

“Nostalgia, mostly,” Taekwoon explains. “I lived with my parents when I came back from uni, and when the property went up for sale, I knew I had to buy it. It was such an iconic part of growing up here, and I’ve never been one to deny myself memories from my childhood. I managed to scrape the money together for a down payment, but I didn’t get to really start repairing it until a couple years later after I’d gotten a job. It was in complete disrepair, and it took me a very long time to get it to look how it does now. It was worth the work I put into it, though. It’s my favorite place in the whole world.” He wants to say something else, to put it more poetically, but instead, he just leaves it at that, his story full of loose ends. 

Maybe someday, Jaehwan will ask him for more details. Right now, however, the other seems much more focused on something else entirely. Him. _Am I just imagining things, or is he getting closer?_ Jaehwan leans over and up, just a little, and presses a soft kiss to the corner of Taekwoon’s mouth. Nothing that could be misconstrued as just a sweet gesture, but definitely nothing too committed either. He’s left room for potential rejection just in case.

Their eyes meet, uncertainty hanging heavy between them, until Taekwoon smiles softly and slings his arm around Jaehwan’s waist. “If you’re going to kiss me, then do it properly.” 

Jaehwan smiles back underneath Taekwoon’s mouth when their lips touch again.

**Author's Note:**

> i think this will be the last thing i publish for quite a while -- i feel like my writing has gotten very stale, and i’m growing really tired of it, so i think i’ll need to take a break to kind of breathe some stylistic life back into it. if you want, you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/chaupdates) to keep up with my day to day thoughts, but i won’t be posting there about fic stuff for the most part. if not, i’ll see you all soon.
> 
> i might write a part two for this story one day, but again, not for a while


End file.
